If you have a toaster oven, you might use it instead.

I also have a recipe that works in a microwave.

MICROWAVE BANANA BREAD RING

2 T. graham cracker crumbs (or any kind of plain cookie crumbs)
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 t. grated orange peel (optional, but nice)
1 c. mashed ripe bananas
2 eggs

Grease 6-cup microwave-safe ring mold; sprinkle evenly with graham cracker crumbs. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Pour into prepared ring mold. Place (the ring mold) in microwave oven on inverted microwave-safe plate. Microwave on MEDIUM for 10 minutes, rotating ring mold 1/2 turn halfway through cooking. Microwave on HIGH for 1-4 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and bread begins to pull away from sides of ring mold. Let stand directly on countertop 5 minutes; unmold onto serving plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve warm. 16-servings

1 serving =
Calories - 170; Protein - 3 g; Carbohydrate - 23 g; Fat - 7g; Cholesterol - 35 mg; Sodium - 190 mg

For a baking pan I use a small plastic microwave-safe bundt pan. You can often find them at thrift stores.

-Grainlady

No, I have not done it but I doubt it will work. With a top heating electric element, you will be broiling bread. The electric element is there for one purpose, that is for broiling.

However, if you must, give this a try, basically maximizing infrared energy:

Pre-heat the oven.

Please the dough on a lower rack.

Place a large sheet of shiny aluminum foil on the oven floor and "bake".

Turn the bread over every few minutes.

Also, try making the bread thin, not thick.

Good luck.

dcarch

I would doubt it would work either, especially with banana bread that takes a while to bake. I accidentally baked some rolls on broil once, I was surprised that they baked, although the tops were quite brown & the bottoms were not brown at all. We're talking regular bread rolls though. If you decide to try it, I would make muffins & put on the bottom rack.

I used a small roaster oven (they call it so 'cause it has a roasting pin, I guess its the same as toaster oven - got electric bars on top and bottom). Several problems:

1. It seemed to be rising well while baking but by the time the color browned enough and the toothpick came out clean, it has become completely flat.

2. There are crumbs stuck to the bottom of the loaf pan (was greased).

Any Idea what went wrong? Maybe the heat distribution in this oven is not good?

Main ingredients I used:

a combination of white flour (1cup) and 3/4cup other flours [around (1/2cup) whole wheat + millet flour (2tbsp) + oatflour (3tbsp)], 3 bananas, 1/4 cup honey, 1tsp baking powder & 1/4tsp baking soda. Baked at 170deg C

I guess you already tried it. I would have suggested freezing the bananas and baking when your oven will work properly. As already pointed out, the top element is for broiling, which means intense, localized heat, usually for shorter periods of time. It is not intended to heat the entire oven or to bake for longer periods. You also have the fact that heat rises working against you -- and possibly the location of your thermostat (mine is in the upper part of the oven), Building up enough heat in the rest of the oven to try to properly bake means using the broil cycle longer than intended.

Do I understand correctly that you put this loaf inside a covered roasting pan? That probably helped protect it from burning under the the broiler, but if it wasn't preheated, it would also mean you insulated cooler air around the loaf and slowed the baking. The heat source would have been buffered, but that doesn't mean you got even heat in the oven. Further, the cooler air and delay in heating probably minimized the action of the baking soda and would reduce the effectiveness of double acting baking powder. Your whole grains also made the batter heavier and probably compromised the rise further. Heat is a critical part of the baking equation.

Next time, put your bananas in a freezer bag (peeled or not, but they will be mushier after freezing, so if not peeled, you may not want to wait until they thaw) and save them for later use.

It sounds like this is too late for the banana bread but in case it comes up again, here is what I would have done.

Before preheating the oven set one rack high in the oven with a sheet pan on it to block the infrared from the top (broiling) element. Then put one rack lower for the bread to go on.

It looks like it rose somewhat from the cracking on top. How is the texture?

I wouldn't have put foil on the bottom of the oven, many oven manuals say to not do that and I have had the foil melt on when that was ignored by someone who will remain nameless - probably less of a problem when the bottom element isn't being used, but still..

If you have a baking stone (aka pizza stone) you might have put it on the rack for the bread or on a rack below the bread. It would retain heat from being preheated and make some heat come from the bottom.

I would have preheated the oven as dcarch suggested to minimize the time the broiler is running with the bread in.

Perhaps the roaster oven didn't maintain a consistent heat. While it was hot, the bread would rise, but if the temperature than dropped before the bread was cooked enough to be set up, it might sink down again and stay that way.

I don't think the oven caused the crumbs sticking. Perhaps the pan just needed a heavier greasing or greasing and flouring. There isn't any fat in the recipe so any help with not sticking had to come from the pan preparation.

I've baked in our toaster oven and performance was fine.

Hi lascatx, the bread was baked in an open loaf pan.

I think what cloud_swift said is right, the bread may have collapsed because the roaster oven didn't maintain a consistent heat. While it was hot, the bread would rise, but if the temperature dropped before the bread was cooked enough to be set up, it sunk down again and stayed that way. I noticed it puffing up a lot at first but by the time it was ready to be removed, it was flat.

I think I should have preheated the oven long enough before putting in the bread and next time I'll make sure and switch off the top heating element (before placing the bread in) so there is no broiling and cracking.

Regarding the oven without bottom heat, Pizza stone actually sounds like a good idea, I would like to try. Thanks for same. I have actually used foil in the oven but don't anymore for any long time baking assignment because it gets all blackened.

Despite all this, the bread actually tasted great. The texture was a bit dense (not at all airy) but heavy texture for banana bread is normal? Maybe it would be different if it didn't collapse. Also, super moist and sweet on the first day (unlike other times, when it tastes better on the next day). There was actually fat-olive oil- in it 1/3 cup (sorry, forgot to mention earlier). Is that the reason why it gets crumbly and sticks to the pan? What is the best grease you can apply to the pan to avoid crumbing and sticking?